Of course his sheep support him.Otherwise they might have to GASP think for their fucking selves for once!

MindsetThese are the people who say that James Dobson is a “godly” man, even though he’s a serial liar.  They will also insist that Daniels is “innocent until proven guilty”.  They’re also the same people who think that Julian Assange should be executed for treason, even though he has not been charged with any crime and he’s not a U.S. citizen.
The cognitive dissonance makes me reel, sometimes.

Easy explanation…Thanks to the work of the Republicans destroying the educational system, people are more easily led around – the teabaggers are prime examples of that.
They’re like the Brownshirts, who were created from the bottom of the German social structure. The GOP leaders (who helped create the chaos and the movement itself!) are under the delusion that they’re going to be able to control these new fanatics in their ranks.
The teabaggers in Congress are going to get a rude awakening, though when they try to force through their radical agenda.

I could never understand--why congregations stuck with pastors after they do and/or are accused of something horrendous like this. And honestly, I still don’t. T_T

Easy, JoanieEither the pastor has them under his thumb spiritually, and/or has his supporters as leaders in the various committees.

[This is probably the youth and naivete talking.]Just…
WHY all the groupthink in church?
(*head hurts*)

That’s why they are referred to as “sheep”.They follow their Pastor blindly.

Have they triedto blame this one on us yet?

Re;Of course religious cults try to suppress individuality, independence and critical thought. They couldn’t thrive otherwise. People thinking for themselves is a threat to their authority. It undermines their control – both of their direct followers and society at large.

Not surprisedI’m not surprised that the congregation continues to give their pastors leeway. It’s been that way for eons. When I was growing up, our pastor (Southern Baptist, btw) took money from the church funds for years, had an affair with the church secretary (again, for years), and then burned down the church recreation center where all of the church offices and records were kept to try to cover his tracks when people got suspicious.
I can’t recall if he ever went to jail, but I distinctly remember my mother making excuses for the man and basically pulling the “he’s innocent until proven guilty” line. She also said that as Christians the church had to forgive him and not judge him.
Funny how they can manage to forgive and not judge when they don’t want to see the dirty works going on in their own church.

It’s what the RCC has been doing for 1700 years.

Not unusual!Many years ago, there was a fundie church near Findlay, Ohio called Hope Temple, and was rumored to have been partially set up by Jim Jones.
The place grew like a weed; having a K-8 school, expanded to another full sanctuary, a weekly radio show (which I ran the tape for, story in the next paragraph!), and the usual right-wing tripe.
One year, they brought in this self-described “expert” in rock & roll named Rev. John Muncy. He made all sorts of wild unsubstantiated claims, (like the brain can decipher backward masking) and refused to allow discussion as well as toilet breaks — which are the usual cult tactics. There were stories of these kids then doing street “preaching” afterwards.
Well, during Good Friday, which is one of the holiest days in Christiandom, what did the show Hope for Today focus on? Not the reason you think, but to praise “Rev” Muncy and his “seminars”.
Like Callie’s minister, there were allegations the head pastor was skimming funds from the church to head back to Canada where he was a citizen, so he was paid off to leave; and there was this “mysterious” fire, which destroyed the newer sanctuary (the fire department supposedly never found out what was the cause!), and the church is a shadow of it’s former self.